Making an impression

Its all about making an impression..
Whether its kids trying to impress the teacher by prompt answers, whether its an employee trying to impress the boss by taking credit for work done or if its a anybody trying to impress the opposite sex by better attire or wit.. We all strive for attention.
Human beings are hungry for love and attention.. They tend to even get very selfish to get the desired attention.
There are times when I have seen my colleagues tread on each and other trying to get the boss's attention. In school, I have seen boys doing crazy things to catch a eye of the pretty girl.
The question to ask is .. Is this behaviour our weakness or our strength ?.. Does it give us a reason to live in our daily mundane life or does it make animals out of us. ? Fighting with each other to get ahead..?

Mumbai.. the new HK ?

Its been 12 years since I have been coming to Asia for business. The region seems to be changing a lot over the last 12 years. In Hong Kong the change started around the handover of the region to China by UK. The country is now very Chinese-ised (if I may use the word). The only expatriate foreigners in the city seem to be from the financial industry. The amount of non-chinese that you see on the streets is also decreasing. Its becoming a very local town.
Singapore too seems to be peaking out in terms of prosperity. Could it be cultural reasons ? The compulsory military training seems to take 2-3 fruitful and productive years out of the Singaporean male's life. The women seem to move head in academics and life in general.. leading them to marry out of the local community.. The strong antiseptic atmosphere created by the government seem to cause an outflow of talent.
I think cities like Mumbai, Shanghai and Dubai seem to be slowly emerging as financial cities and seem to be slowly replacing HK and Singapore . If these cities manage to get their infrastructure in place, I would see them replacing HK and Singapore as financial hubs of Asia.

My boss quits .. after 10 years together..

It took me a good 10 years and my boss to quit to realise what my firm had given me.. Imense confidence and the ability to believe in myself.
I had joined the firm when it was like a small startup and with great effort we have taken it to the mamoth that it is today.. Many team members deserted us on the way.. May it be foir better prospects, due to internal pressures or for an educational indulgence ! A few of us continued relentlessly.. Holding up the firm likr pillars of strength.. But it was too good to last.. Last week, one of the pillars fell and the building seemed to tilt a little.. But.. I feel the pain is temporary.. The firm remains larger than people.. It dawned to me that we all do not matter.. In 50 years we will be well forgotten.. Will we be remembered 10 years hence.. ? I doubt that too.. So its all a question of time.. We are just pages of a book being blown around by the winds of time.. What remains is the firm we built !

Eesha .. My Daughter.. My Strength..

I have written many blogs about my son but have rarely mentioned my daughter.. She is growing up into a very beautiful woman..

My daughter, Eesha, has started using words like “yuks” and “cool” since she has moved up the classes in her school (She is now in Class 4)

I guess there is a reason why the standards in school are called classes.. One learns more jargon as one moves up the “classes”

There is also a marked attitude change.. As she approaches her 10^th year of age, she has started taking better care of herself. She is more conscious of brushing her teeth after food, wearing matching clothes and brushing her hair before stepping out of the house.

Since my son, Neel, was born, Eesha has suddenly grown up. She is now the “elder” sister. She likes to boss around with young Neel (though he is as aggressive and difficult to boss around with).

However, I feel that being a girl, by default makes her more sensitive (she cries even at a small shout – While even a whack on the backside has no effect on my son), She understands more that parents need some time of their own and is more caring as a person.

She is also more creative and is pretty good at dancing (I was surprised to see her dance at this New Years Ball) .. While Neel (like me) has two left feet !!

Well most important of all .. She is my strength.. I often tell her that .. and she often tells me that she loves me twice as much as I love her…

Principles of my life

I have lived my life based on the following simple principles..
1. Do not hurt someone as far as possible
2. Make friends who add to yourself. The addition can be in knowledge, companionship, love, direction etc
3. Read atleast one book a month and try to remember one key ?take-away? from every book.
4. Every thing that you do (however boring) has a positive side. Think of the positives when doing boring jobs
5. Look after your health. I learnt this late in life.
6. Spend quality time with the people you love. You only get what you give.
7. Have a aim / ambition in life and believe the saying ?it does not matter where you are. What matters is where you are going?.
8. Do a little charity every year
9. If you cannot be a part of the progress (this applies to the country's progress, the organisation's progress or your family's progress) then atleast do not be a hinderence to the progress. 10. Be honest to your employer.
11.Do not take work home.
12. Eat right .. In quality and quantity
13. Do not smoke (learnt it late in life)
14. Listen
15. Listen more to experience.
16. Speak only if required and after thinking.
17. Speak rather than write.. Don't speak rather than speak.
18. Make a few but good friends..
19. You need to go down to a person's intellectual level for him/her to understand what you are saying.
20. God did not designate human beings. So do not use your designation unless necessary.. All colleagues are human beings first.

Man to man with my son....

NEEL

I was walking down the road the other day with Neel (my 3 year old son) after a very tense day at work.. and we had a very interesting conversation.
There is this area near my house that had just been acquired by a famous construction house in Mumbai. They are planning to build a top-of-the-line exclusive apartment complex there. The entire area was fenced and there were security guards sitting at the entrance. Looking at the security guards, my son said:

Neel: Why are police guarding this place
Me: They are not police. They are guards
Neel: But, why are they guarding the place
Me: Because there is a big building coming up here and they do not want unauthorosed people to enter the premises (I explained this in easier to understand language)
Neel: will we be staying in this new building ?
Me: No
Neel: Why
Me: Because its expensive and daddy does not have that much money
Neel: Can I work with you ? both of us together can get more money ..


That felt so good.. Its been a good 15 years since I have been the only sensible bread-earner in the family and my son (though just 3 years old) offering to help out felt so good.

Kids, (I strongly feel so), can sense the soft corners of their parents and often say things (sometimes subconsciously) that release a lot of tensions…

All that glitters...

Gold has been one of the best performing assets in the last 5 years. Though Equities (selectively) may have outperformed, Gold remains a much safer asset class.

Did you know that there is $200 billion gold in homes? The value of gold held by Indian households is more than double the market value of the equity stock they own. At $ 200 billion, it is almost a third of India’s GDP.

Gold holdings among Indian households at current market value is about 2.5 times the current equity stock holding of $80 billion.

While the share of gold in household savings declined during 2000-2002 to 5 per cent, it has been on the rise once again in the last two years.

It was 8-10 per cent during the quarter ended March 2005. If instead of investing its annual sayings in gold, India were to invest this in productive business assets, its annual GDP growth would be higher by about 0.3-0.4 per cent.

As per World Gold Council (WGC) estimates, Indian households own about 15,000 tonnes of gold accounting for about 10% of the world-wide stock. At current market values, gold accounts for about 10-15% of the Indian household balance sheet.However, I feel with the new Indian youth aspiring to consume more (buy cars, mobile phones, computers etc), it is quite likely that the Gold locked in Indian households may come into the market.